That Evening There Was Great Joy Amongst The Somal,
Who Had Been Alarmed For The Safety Of My Companions:
They brought them
presents of Harari Tobes, and a feast of fowls, limes, and wheaten bread
for the stranger.
On the 11th of January I was sent for by the Gerad and received the second
mule. At noon we were visited by the Shaykh Jami, who, after a long
discourse upon the subject of Sufiism [44], invited me to inspect his
books. When midday prayer was concluded we walked to his house, which
occupies the very centre of the city: in its courtyard is "Gay Humburti,"
the historic rock upon which Saint Nur held converse with the Prophet
Khizr. The Shaykh, after seating us in a room about ten feet square, and
lined with scholars and dusty tomes, began reading out a treatise upon the
genealogies of the Grand Masters, and showed me in half a dozen tracts the
tenets of the different schools. The only valuable MS. in the place was a
fine old copy of the Koran; the Kamus and the Sihah were there [45], but
by no means remarkable for beauty or correctness. Books at Harar are
mostly antiques, copyists being exceedingly rare, and the square massive
character is more like Cufic with diacritical points, than the graceful
modern Naskhi. I could not, however, but admire the bindings: no Eastern
country save Persia surpasses them in strength and appearance. After some
desultory conversation the Shaykh ushered us into an inner room, or rather
a dark closet partitioned off from the study, and ranged us around the
usual dish of boiled beef, holcus bread, and red pepper.
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